Combined rail joint and bond.



110.794.441. l vPATBN'TED 11111111, 1905.

r B. WULHAUPTER.

COMBINED RAIL 1011111 A1111 BOND.

APPLIOATION FILED Nov. za, 1904.

' s SHEETS-SHEET 1.

(f/ m m l @MMM PATBNTED JULY I1, 1905.

l wATENTED JULY""11 ,19052 B. WOLHAUPTER.

COMBINED RAIL JOINT ANI) BOND. APPLICATION FILED Nov. ga, 1904.

SHEETS-SHEET s.

i n. .n

JPatented July l 1, 1 905.

llFnfrnnr t? trice..

Blild'sldllil liTQlQIl-AUPTER, F UllltlAGO, lLLlNOlS.

SPECEFIGATIDN forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,441, dated July 11 1905.

i Application .(iled November 28, 19.04. Serial No. 234,637.

To all whom t 'nt/ty concern.- i

Be it known that l, BnNJAmN VVLHAUPTER, a citizen oi' the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county oi' Coolrand State of illinois, have invented certain new and useful lrnprovements in a Combined Rail Joint and Bond; and l do hereby declare that the vfollowing is a full, clear, and exact description' thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and. to the letters of reference marked. thereon, which form a part of this specilieation.

This invention relates to a combined railioint and rail-bond; and its object is to proconstitutinul part of the rail-'uint and which extends beneath and forms a support or bearing for the adjacent ends of Vthe rails. Said plate has in its upper or bearing su rtace, which forms the rail-seat, a longitudinal groove or recess, and an electric condnctorislocated within said groove or recess beneath the ends ol' the rails and having permanent contact with thev latter. 'lhe electric conductor thus located in said groove or recess is thus inclosed within a spa-ee or passage formed by said groove or recess and the ends of the rails above it, and is thereby protected from injury or external violence.

My inwntion, embracing the General fea: i tures o construction above set forth, may be carried out in several ditl'erent ways in practice, and l have illustrated in the accompanying drawings several different forms of railioint embodying the invention.

ln one desirable form of construction embodying my invention the rail-bond consists i ol alstrip ot' metal made thick enough to hll the vertical si'iacc between the rails and the bottoni ot' the groove or channel in the baseplate and to rest orbenr upwrndlj-J against 'the surface ol the rail ends. in crosssection ot' the rail-Joint. Fig. 3 isa lower surfaces of the rails, the same being clamped iirmly in contactwith the rails bythe members of the rail-joint, while the downward pressure of the ends of the rails on said metallic strip serves to insure always an intimate' contact or" the strip with the rails. 1n another embodiment oi' my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings the conducting-strip so `located within a groove inv the base-plate is pressed upwardly against kthe rails by a spring. ln still another embodiment ot' my linvention illustrated `in the accompanying drawings the ends of aconducting-strip located in the longitudinal groove in the baseplate are extended upwardly through holes in and riveted to the base-flanges ot' the rails;

As illustratedl in said drawings, liigure l is a perspective view oi" a rail-joint embodying a form ot' my invention in which the rail-- bond consists of a strip oli metal inserted in the longitudinal groove in the basesplate of the rail-joint and bearing against the under Fig. 2 is a View plan view of the base-plate ol the ,rail-joint. Fig. Li is a sectional View ot a rail-joint having two joint bars or plates only. Fig. 5 is a section like Fig. 2l, showing a slightly-mmhlied construction of the basepIate. Fig. l is another section like Fig. 2l, showing still another modi'lication in the construction ol the base-plate. Fig. 7 is a section corresponding with Figl, illustratingl a construction in vhich the cond ucting-strip is hold by a spring upwardly against the bottom surfaces of the rails` Fig. bl isanother section corresponding with Fig. 3, showing the condnoting-strip so arranged as to itsel t' .onstitute a spring. Fig. l) is a cross-sectioinll view of a rail-joint having a conductingstrip which permanently secured at its ends lo the base-flanges of the railf Fig. l() is a sectional view oi the saine, taken on lineI lll Il) ol 'Fig'. l). Fig. 11 is a plan view ofthe base-plate with a conducting strip lih'cthat ol" Figs. Si) and l0 located in the groove' thereof.

ln all ot' the Iigures o the drawings except Fig. el, A A indicate the ends ot' the rails to be joined, il the base-plate of the rail-joint, and il U angle-plates, which coact with the IOO base-plate to form said rail-joint and which are clamped against opposite sides of the rails by means of the track-bolts D D. The base-plate B and angle-plates C C are joined or connected in such manner that. the said base-plate will be clamped or held firmly in .contact with the bottom surface of the rail. Such clamping action may be obtained by any oneof a number of different devices, such as have heretofore been used in rail-joints. A desirable form of construction for this purpose is shown in the accompanying drawings, which is 'like .that described and claimed in Letters Patent of vthe United States N o. 691,037, granted to'me January 14, 1.902. In

this construction the angle-plates CC are pro- 'vided at their lower or outer margins with inwardly-directed anges C C, which extend beneathand engagethe adjacent marginal parts of thebase-plate B. Said angle-plates' have downwardly-facing oblique bearing-surfacesc c, that bear upon the inclined upper surfaces of the base-fianges of the rail, these parts being so arranged that as the. angleplates are drawn inwardly toward the web of the rail bythe track-bolts D D the oblique Surfaces C C willv slide upwardly and inwardly 4on the base-anges, and thus draw or clamp the base-plate B, which is engaged with the fianges C C', firmly into contact with the lower 'surfaces of the rail ends. If desired, the meeting or contact surfaces of the fianges C C and the margins of the base-plate B may be inclined or beveled upwardly and outwardly, as shown in the drawings, in order to increase the clamping action referred to. i

The base-plate B is provided in its upper surface with two or more longitudinal grooves B B, which grooves may be formed by giving corrugated shape to the plates as a whole.

Now referring t0 the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, E E indicate .bonding or connecting stl'ipS, Which are of rectangular form in cross-section'and which rest Within the g'lOOVeS B B 1n position for contact of their upper surfaceswith the endsl of both rails A A. Said bonding-strips E l1) will preferably be made originally slightly greater in vertical thickness than the depth of the grooves B B', the result of this construction being that not only will said strips "be firmly clam )ed au'ainst the rails when the angle-plates C C areclamped against the rails in assembling the parts of the joint, but the rails will rest upon and be supported by said bonding-strips and the load comingl on the rails will tend to press the same against the strips, and thus maintain reliable contact of thc strips with the rails. The said bonding'- strips will, however', usually be made of copper or other metal softer than that used for the parts of the joint, and when said strips are originally made somewhat thicker than the depths of the grooves said strips may and generally will be somewhat compressed or itself.

fiattencd by pressure of the rails thereon under passing loads, and the upper surface of the strips will be made to conform to minute irregularities in the bottom surface of the rails, thereby insuring close or intimate contact of the strips with the rails.

' As shown in Fig. 4, C C2 plates which are provided at their lower edges with inwardly-extending horizontal parts C" C, which extend beneath the rails and, on which the rails rest. Said parts C:i fin this construction ta 'e the place of the base-plate B of the other figures of the drawings, vthe said parts (fi C3 being' provided `with grooves C* C4, in which are located bonding-strips E E, arranged and operating like those of Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

1u the construction illustrated in Fig. 5 thel base-plate B has cut from the bottom walls qf the grooves B B therein longitudinal iriwardly-directed tongues which tongues are bent upwardly into the grooves, as shown, so as to constitute shoulders located in contact with or adjacent to the ends of the bond ing-strips E. The shoulders so formed in the bottoms of said grooves of the base-plate indicate angle- Y serve to hold the bonding-strips in place at the time of .originally assembling the parts and to also avoid possibility of said' strips slipping out of place through cndwise movement which might be given theretothrough contraction and expansion of the rails.

Figs. 6, 7, and 8 illustrate a construction einbiacing a bonding-strip 14", which instead of resting on the bottom walls of the grooves in the base-plate is pressed upwardly against the bottoms of the rails by means et' a spring suitably applied for the purpose. As shown in Fig. (i, said spring is formed by means of tongues cut from the bottom of the plate Said tongues, as indicated by b in Fig. (5, extend longitudinally of the baseplate, with their free ends directed outwardly from the ccntcrthereof, and are bent or deiected upwardly from the central part of thcbase-plate, so that their ends will form yield- IOS IlO

ingI or spring supports for the bonding-strip IC, which in this ins-tance is made of less depth or vertical thickness than the depth of the recess in which it is placed. As shown in said Fig. 5, the end portions of the-tongues are bent abruptly upward, so as to constitute shoulders serving to hohl the bondingstrip from cndwise movementand to properly conline in place said bonding-strip.

As shown in Fig. 7, the base-plate B is made in the same manner illustrated in Fig. 5 that is to say, it is provided with upturned tongues f1, constituting' shoulders adapted to hold the bonding-strip from endwise movement, while said bonding-strip is made of less thickness than the depth of the grooves, and a flater curved plate-spring F is interposed between the central part of thc wenn@ y spr-ing kF vili tema@ efeensiaemti tiene y ityi-"so-that theleiidsjof vthe honding-stripwill iffbe; pressed .firmly thereby'against thellower" surface ofthefrailendsjy s shownin Fig. 8, a bonding-strip G is Aused-which 'has formed integral therewith freeended spring-arms gg, that are deiiect- 'edfdown'wa'rdly` and are adapted to constitute y springs Whichbear against the bottom offthe i groove-in the plateand serve to press the b ciinding-strip upwardly againstv the ends 'of'.

t )hold he bonding-strip centrally imposition ybeneath the rail endsareafforded by' means of'up'wardly-deliected parts i be, beutirom. lthefmetal of the base-plate after thesa'me has been 'given its grooved or corrugated form. I "-Figs ,9, 10, and 1 1 illustrate a construction Qin-"which a bonding or connectingstr-ip is 2 0' used having'ator near its ends integral studs or pins-which lextend through holes in the base-lianges'of the rails and are seciired therein by riveting or upsetting the upperends of said pin's or studs. In.y this instance, H indicates the bonding-strip, which is located in p vandextends longitudinally of the groove B/ and which has at its ends 'upwardly-extendingpins la, which are inserted in sockets'or -liolesf/ a in the baseliangeslof the rails and l3 the upper ends of whichare upset or riveted -againstthesaid base-fiangcs. iprefer to'make the bonds or connecting-strip H with enlarged or thickened parts or heads H' H', from the upper surface of which pins 72, project and which are' made equal 'in vertical thickness to or lsomewhat thicker than the depth'o, the i grooves B' in which they'are placed, so that said heads H will rest'on the bottom of the grooves and the bottom of the rails'will rest or bear upon the topfsurfaces of said heads. Moreover, I prefer to make thesaid pins it it of tapering form, the result of this construction being that the'weight coming-on the rails iwill not only force the conical pins t /i farther'into their sockets, but the bottoms of the rails will rest on the heads H', and thus insure f the maintenance of a tight joint or connection between the rails and the ends of the conducting-strip 1f there should be'any defect in the joints formed by the riveting of said pins in the rail-flanges.

lu the several forms of devices illustrated j in Figs. 1 to'8. inclusive, the endsof the rails in the expansion and contraction o'said rails 5,5A by heat .and cold will be 'permitted -to move relativeiy'to the bonding-strip by sliding or f Slippingthere'on while being held in close con-v tact with the rails either' by theelamping--ac- Y, ltion of the parts of thejoints or by the spring .1450 appliet'lfor the pprpose; but in the construc-A tion shownin Figs. 9, l0, and li inasmuch as of the rails.

' aile.' vIn this constructionshoulders t0- vthe ends of the rails rest'and in which the the bonding-strip are secured to rail-Bauges it is necessary to provide for such relative'endwise movement of the ends fof the strips under expansion and contraction For this purpose the said strip H is made thinner and narrower than the width' of the groove in the base-plate B and 'is' bent 'into zigzag or curved form as to be capable of endwise expansion or contraction, and thus permit its ends to be shifted or moved toward and from each other as the'A rails expand and contract.

inasmuch as the part' of the joint on which groove containing thejbonding or connecting v strip is formedmay be made either as a part separate from the angle-plates applied to the sides of the-,ribs or may consist of inwardlyextending anges on said angleplates, as

shown in Fig. 4, it is to be understood that?, the term 1 base-plate as used in the appended claims is not limited toI a plate made in one piece or a plate made separate from the angle-plates, but is intended to'coverany pa'rt or parts of the joint extending beneath the rails and constituting a supporting means therefornl I claim as my inventionl. A rail-joint comprising a base-plate on which the ends of the rail rest and which is -provided with a longitudinal groove in its top surface, and a bonding or connecting strip located in said groove incontact withthe bottom surfaces of the rail ends, said rail-joint embracing means by which the said base-plate is clamped toward the bottoms of the rail ends andv said'bondi'ng or connecting strip thereby pressed firmly against the same.

2. A rail-joint embracingv a base-plate on which the ends of the rails rest and which is provided with a longitudinal groove in its top surface, and a bonding or connecting strip in said groove, the base-plate having in the bottom of the groove elevated parts adapted to hold the bonding-strip from endwise movement. j

3. A rail-joint embracing a base-plate' on which the ends of the rails rest and whichis provided with a longitudinal groove in its top surface, and a bonding or connecting strip in said groove, the base-plate having inthe bottom of said groove tongues which are bent upwardly to constitute stops to hold the strip from endwise movement.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing .as 'my invention I aiiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this A.' D. 1904. f

BENJAMIN WQLHAUPTER.- Witnesses:

' 1C. CLARENCE POOLE, Gnonen it. WILKINS.

IOO

IIO

25th day of November, l 

